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and i have a massive heart attack right in my driveway. the doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go talk to your doctor. you're not indestructible anymore. who would you rather fight? wayne lapierre or mike bloomberg? it's monday, march 25th, and this is now.

>> joining me today, former pennsylvania governor, and nbc news political analyst and current governor of "now," ed rendell. managing editor of the grio.com and soon-to-be lieutenant governor of "now," joy reed. >> and assistant managing editor for "time" magazine, rona. congress may be on spring break, but mayor michael bloomberg is at work. his group, mayors against ill leelg guns announced it will drop $12 million on a tv advertising campaign against 13 states. >> guns are for hunting and protecting my family. i believe in the second amendment and i'll fight to protect it. but with rights come responsibilities. that's why i support comprehensive background checks. so criminals and the dangerously mentally ill can't buy guns. that protects my rights and my family. >> yesterday in an interview

with david gregory, mayor bloomberg continued the full-court press. >> we're trying to do everything we can to impress upon the senators, that this is what the survivors want, this is what the public wants. i don't think there's ever been an issue where the public has spoken so clearly, where congress hasn't eventually understood and done the right thing. 90% of the public want something. and their representatives vote against that -- common sense says they are going to have a price to to pay for that. >> common sense is of course, wayne lapierre's mortal enemy and yesterday was no exception. lapierre called the mayor's position on guns, reckless and insane. writing off bloomberg's efforts to counter the nra. >> he's going to find out this is a country off the people, by the people and for the people. he can't spend enough of his $27 billion to try to impose his will on the american public. they don't want him in their

restaurants, they don't want him in their homes, they don't want him telling them what food to eat. they sure don't want him telling them what self-defense firearms to own. he can't buy america. >> bloomberg and lapierre may be using the same rhetorical strategy, proposing that the american people are on their side. but one argument seems to be based on facts and evidence, and the other appears to be based on -- the opinion of wayne lapierre. recent polling shows that between 85 and 91% of americans support background checks. but the trouble for wayne lapierre doesn't end there. he seems to be suffering from amnesia. when he was pressed on background checks yesterday, 2013 wayne lapierre squared off against 1999 wayne lapierre. >> the whole thing universal checks is a dishonest premise. there's not a bill on the hill that provides a universal checks. criminals aren't going to be checked. they're not going to do this. >> we think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for

every sale at every gun show. >> gun safety reform remains at the forefront of president obama's agenda. buzz feed reports he will hit the road this week to take his message to the people while congress is in recess. it's been over 100 days since the newtown massacre. and since then, there have been over 2,000 gun deaths. the debate on gun control may have started months ago, by the looks of it the fight is just beginning. governor rendell. how effective do you think go mayor bloomberg and his media blitz can be? >> wayne lapierre may not know much, but he knows about insanity. >> that he does. >> that's number one. number two, he says the people don't want mike bloomberg in their living rhoades. those ads don't have mike bloomberg's name on them. those ads are very effective and they're striking a responsible chord. because that's what people believe. the question is can that belief be translated into pressure put

on congressmen and senators. and i believe it can. because this is one area where i mean i'm stunned when the gop, all eight of their senators voted against universal background checks, i was absolutely stunned. this is party that's trying to reshape their image and they unanimously voted against something supported by 85% of the american people? >> that actually is one of the things i want to focus on. we began this odyssey together in so far as post newtown and the question about whether or not we were going to see some measurable progress here. some kind of gun safety reform. and the fact of the matter is you have that polling, which shows an like almost everybody in this country wants some kind of universal background check. but you still have democrats to say nothing of the republicans, mary landrieu, morning pryor, joe donnelly, these guys all being targeted by bloomberg. why is it our politicians seem so far behind where the public is, governor? >> because the nra has been a very effective lobbying force. they can press a button and get

1,000 letters into anybody's office. and politicians are dumber than dirt sometimes. they think that 1,000 letters represents what the people feel. ordinary people may feel strongly on something. but we're too busy, we don't write, we don't email. it's the organized campaigns that can get those letters in there. politicians are making a big mistake in this and they will pay for it. i have four suburban congressmen in philadelphia, all republican. if they vote against universal background checks, i think they're done for. >> you know, i agree with you. i think though, that we've got a long road to go. i think that there's a short attention span problem around this issue. and also -- >> don't you think that's why it's great that the mayor is doing what he's doing? >> i think it's fantastic. and i just hope that he, i'm glad he has a lot of money, because i think it's going to take a lot of money and a lot of time. if you look back over decades of gun control history. it took the nra a while to get the country, in this very extreme position that it's in right now. prior to the '70s, we had much

stricter gun control laws in a lot of places, in western states that are supposedly so libertarian and free-wheeling. i think it's going to be a long haul. i'm glad we have a billionaire on this issue. >> did you notice colorado what it did last week? a gun state, a hunting state. once reliably red. a transformational change. >> i think colorado is a good example. i grew up in that state, it definitely is a hunting-friendly state. i only lived in sweet states, strategic. >> there's some ohio blood in there? >> i'm going to move there for a while so i can say, i used to live in ohio, it's a swing state. you're seeing it in colorado where this is going. states are responsive on a local level. politics is all about pressure and leverage. for somebody like a mary landrieu, she doesn't see as a national poll as necessarily the pressure that's going to change her election. she's worried about louisiana. she's worried about getting re-elected in that state. and until you see the zeitgeist

change within the state, these politicians are not responsive to that. where bloomberg can make a huge difference is he can go into a local race, a congressional district, he can go in on a state. when mary landrieu starts seeing bloomberg money against her, then i think she might change her mind. >> let's talk about bloomberg money. as if he's got bloomberg money. "the new york times" quotes thomas mann from brookings, said the $12 million in advertising was unlikely to influence the outcome of the legislation, unless lawmakers were convinced that mr. bloomberg would open his wallet again after the vote, both to reward those who supported the bill and to punish those who did not. that's absolutely key, said mann. what do you make of that? >> i think that makes sense. in the immediate environment we're in today, one of these media campaigns can be a flash in the pan. but i think this is a long game and think it's a long game for good reason. i actually disagree with the governor that these politicians are necessarily being stupid. by going against the public on the issue.

because this is one of those asymmetrical issues. most people are in favor of universal background checks, but the people who care about it are going to vote on the issue, are disproportion eige porgportiona opposed to them. i think we need to convince voters who are in favor of background checks to hold politicians accountable for their votes on it i think it's supportable, because violent crime has been in decline for 20 years -- >> not gun-related crime. >> i want to talk about that. finish your point first. >> i think the reason that the political environment is actually more difficult for gun control now than it was 20 years ago is because people are less afraid of violent crime than they used to be. and so i think it takes some convincing to tell people no really, this is an issue that you need to care about and that is going to improve your life. >> wayne lapierre, donned the cloak of sort of an urban activist yesterday, which made me somewhat nauseous in the morning. made the point if we want to

focus on gun violence, we talk about what's happening in the inner cities. and hilary rosen on "meet the press" made the very fair point, you can't have it both ways and, you can't be against gun safety reform, and say it's all about police officers and first responders, at the same time you have a republican party in a in its 2011 budget specifically targeted federal grants for first responders as a way of cutting the deficit. >> he's taking advantage of a sad fact in this country. if you live in illinois in a part of chicago that is fluent, even the gun violence taking place in chicago, in your very city, doesn't impact you. so you may not think that urban crime is a reason to change gun control laws, because it doesn't affect you personally. you can literally live away from where people are kill and not have gun violence affect you. and gun control laws wouldn't get at that crime. maybe the trafficking piece, it's a much more complicated issue. wayne lapierre is taking advantage of that.

to your point, it's not as if congress is trying to do anything about that. not trying to do the things they could do about urban crime. >> mental health, a lot of that is aided by the affordable care act. and governor, joy makes a good point. if you look at support for stricter gun laws among african-americans, 78% of them support stronger controls, compared with 48% of caucasians, support for stricter gun laws among urban dwellers, 65% of urban residents support stricter gun laws, compared with 34% of rural residents. this ends up taking a sort of republican/democrat cleaving. >> the polls on universal background checks, that republicans favor it as well. i think you're thinking, although very interesting, is prenewtown. i think newtown changed the, i think our side is as fired up now as their side has been. we'll see, i believe that to be the case and the proof is in the pudding. in the eating of the pudding or

whatever. >> the devil is in the details. >> but look, just like on the debt debate. there's no one answer. the nra is right. that we need stronger law enforcement. the trafficking, gun trafficking law that's in these bills is a great law. it's stronger law enforcement. it will make us able to go after straw purchasers. we need that. but that's not going to help stop jared loughner, who has 33 bullets in his magazine. had jared loughner, had we had the ten-bullet rule, jared loughner was disarmed trying to get his second magazine out of his pocket. he would have fired ten shots. there were 17 people struck by jared loughner, including the 9-year-old little girl, including gabrielle giffords, he couldn't have done that if we had that law in place. so don't tell me that we don't need both. we need both and we need common sense and people to compromise. >> there's so much that can be done at the margins. but it's really not. there's technology in place that exists that fingerprint technology to identify -- that

fantastic column, which nra and gun rights -- >> he advocates for a childproof -- >> childproof gun, it exists in germany. it's kind of a no-brainer. i would love to see the mayor take those things on and get them more public attention. >> children may need access to weaponry in the classroom. i mean literally that's probably the argument at this case. it's worth noting that john mccain, susan collins and dean heller are the most likely republicans to sign on to background checks, give props where props are due. an effort led by tom coburn, joe mansion. >> i although would have to see pat toomey in pennsylvania, who i actually like and i think he can be reasonable on so many issues. if pat toomey doesn't sign on to background checks, he won bay point and a half in a big republican year, 2010. he is dead in the philadelphia suburbs, deader than a doornail. >> i the thing is i think that newtown forced people in the suburbs, in the safe suburbs, to finally confront the issue that gun violence can touch them, too. that it can even touch children.

it was such a shakeup, i don't think it's temporary. it's so shocking, people in the inner city are dealing with gun violence every day. but newtown shocked the conscience, aurora did as well. newtown, especially so because it was kids. if we can't get gun control now, i would think we probably can't get it at all. >> what's a hopeful sign for the future of gun safety? the fact that chris christie and shaquille o'neal were together, that's the photo. which is incredible even regardless of the fact that they're talking about gun buy-back programs. the height differential is massive-o, a lot to be said about that photo. it's heartening, we're still talking about it. >> and christie has been getting a lot of trouble from his right about his moderate position on gun issues, that's when they didn't invite him to cpac. people talk about medicaid expansion and the hug with president obama, but people at cpac talked about was the gun control issue, he's too far off the reservation about that. i think it's a sign that if

you're a governor of a blue state like new jersey and you're a republican, you need to make some accommodation. >> in pennsylvania, you'll see the southern states isolated on this issue. the southern senators democrats or republicans are going to be increasingly isolated on this issue. if you're in pennsylvania or new jersey, you're going to want to sign on to that. >> we have to take a break. when we come back nothing says procrastination like a good, old-fashioned votvote-a-rama on vacation eve. ♪ i am stuck on band-aid brand ♪ ♪ 'cause germs don't stick on me ♪ [ female announcer ] band-aid brand has quiltvent technology with air channels to let boo boos breathe. [ giggles ] [ female announcer ] quiltvent technology, only from band-aid brand. use with neosporin first aid antibiotic.

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republicans and democrats are searching for a middle ground on budget negotiations. can the dysfunctional congressional laboratory develop a donkey/elephant hybrid? we'll discussing slicing and dicing next on "now." ♪ none of us think bad things are gonna happen to us. i'm here at my house on thanksgiving day, and i have a massive heart attack right in my driveway.

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then we started using miracle-gro liquafeed every two weeks. now our plants get the food they need while we water. dinner's ready. come and get it. no one goes hungry in this house. so they're bigger, healthier, and more beautiful. guaranteed. with miracle-gro anyone can have a green thumb. and a second helping. [ both laughing ] when you feed your plants... everyone grows with miracle-gro. with vote-a-rama now over, congressional lawmakers are back in their districts for a two-week break after a marathon voting session this weekend. following house passage of the ryan plan, senate democrats responded in kind by passing their own budget, their first in four years, it garnered no republican support and four democratic nays. still, obama's 2012 campaign manager, jim mussina hailed it as progress. >> i think the senate passing

the budget is a good step, along the lines of the prosals the president has laid out. >> much like the paul ryan house plan, the senate blueprint is a statement of priorities. ryan's plan consists entirely of spending cuts, $4.6 trillion of them, 66% of which come from programs for poor and working-class americans. on the other side, democratic plan calls for $100 billion in stimulus and an even ratio in spending cuts to new revenue from closing tax loopholes on higher earners. surprising no one, the senate's balanced approach was rejected wholesale by republicans. in their response to president obama's weekly address, tea partiyer mike lee tried to explain the gop's resistance. >> to republicans, the budget isn't just about dollars, it's about sense, common sense. >> in this case, common sense equals amendment-a-rama, as the senate debated the budget, republicans in the upper chamber went after their least favorite thing in the whole world, obama care. politico noted of the 100

amendments considered, more than 20 were related to health care, medicare or the health reform law. five amendments related to a k woman's right to choose. marco rubio's proposal to make it a crime to transport a woman across state lines for an abortion and rand paul suggested that the u.s. should save some money simply by withdrawing from the united nations. but approving the keystone pipe line? that nonbinding amendment passed. with the support of 62 senators, including 17 democrats. with president obama set to release his own budget when lawmakers return in early april, is compromise in the cards? new york's jonathan shay doesn't think so writing parties can't find the middle ground, because the middle ground doesn't exist. hmm, i don't call that optimism, josh. >> well i think first most important thing to note about these amendments is none are going to become law.

because the budget is not going to become law. what part of the deal from the fiscal cliff deal a few months ago was that the senate democrats had to pass a budget in order to get a debt ceiling increase. they'll pass a budget. the house passed a budget. in theory what they're supposed to do is reconcile the two of them, come up with a compromise and make that budget the law. that's not going to happen, this was the end. this bill is going to die and there's no implication for keystone, excel, abortion or anything else. it's symbolic. >> quoting myself, it's a statement of priorities. and the fact that the republicans are still trying to litigate the issue of the affordable care act, still talking about contraception, still talking about a woman's right to choose, it's a testament, those are not winning issues for the republican party. i want to talk to you, josh, you have a great column in bloomberg view, talking about republicans and their deficit amnesia. michael writes in the "daily beast," the gop is advancing three crucial lies, that we have to balance the budget, that public investment at this point

is irresponsible and that if we do slash spending and balance the budget, jobs will come. it's all nonsense, every assertion is the exact opposite of the truth. respond to that, if you will. >> i think that's basically right. people on both sides of the aisle talk about balancing the budget as this lofty and important goal. i think it's important to remember that the federal budget has been in deficit for 46 of the last 50 years, so if constant budget deficits are going to ruin the economy they're taking an awful long time about doing so. the real fact about the budget is that the deficit has to be sustainable. but basically the government is a lot more like a company than it is like a household. and a company has debt as part of its permanent capital structure and it can have that debt forever. if the company keeps grog, it can take on more debt. similarly if we run a budget deficit, so long as it is small enough relative to the amount of economy is growing over the long-term that can be sustainable. we have to shrink the budget deficit over time, but not all the way to zero. the democrats are closer to correct on this point where the

republicans have been attacking them because their budget doesn't balance over ten years. the budget shouldn't balance over ten years. >> i think you hit a key point. it's all about growth. you can grow your way out of deficits. we saw it during the clinton administration. it's also about looking at how far we've come. if you actually look at what we've already done in terms of getting deficit under control, if you look at the budget control act, if you look at the tax increases from the end of last year, and all of the interest savings associated with that, we're actually two-thirds of the way to a grand bargain without the sequester. what we have in this country is not so much a deficit problem as a health care spending problem. inflation and health care spending has been a little bit compressed recently. over the long haul, that's the problem. that's why it's so disappointing that that's still an issue again and again to move forward on health care. >> haven't the republicans been successful in a sense, they've gotten washington to essentially only focus on deficit and debt. >> joy i want to read a quote from the "washington post" yesterday. president obama now finds

himself enacting a broad public policy that he doesn't support and believes will harm the country. president of the economic policy institute said president obama shoulders part of the blame, i think they brought it on themselves to the extent they validated the deficit issue. >> we keep having not just republicans, but democrats agree to be on the playing field. where all we're talking about is how do we shrink the debt, how do we attack the deficits. we've gone completely off the plot. when president obama got elected to do was not deal with the deficit and debt. long-term, want to deal with it, don't want to let it get out of control. but our problem is the economy and jobs, that's where the president started. even democrats have managed to get on to this playing field where and the media and the beltway, everyone in washington agrees, we've got to talk about deficits and debt all the time. and it drives me crazy. the other thing that drives me crazy and i don't understand is why do republicans still think that it's okay to still be litigating a woman's right to choose and planned parent hootd and all this other stuff that doesn't help them. i don't even get it at this point i just don't get it. >> governor you are very

involved with the campaign to fix the debt and i think that there is also a half-truth out there that democrats somehow don't realize that down the road, we acknowledge something needs to happen vis-a-vis the social safety net, whether turning it into a voucher program or block grant to the states, is another matter. there's not a lack of recognition about the path that we are on. the timeline and the heens to the end are i think what is at the heart of the debate. >> i think we do have in our party, my party, too many people who are just flat-out debt deniers. the point josh made is the right one. it's not balanced budget, it's debt as percentage of gop. if we let debt get to 90, 9 5%, we're a european nation and we're going down the tubes fast. that's number one. number two, we've got to drive debt down between 70 and 60% of gop. we don't have to do it in the next year or two and simpson-bowles doesn't recommend that. they recommend that the debt reduction gets phased in in the

out years to grow the economy and simpson-bowles says we can invest in the short run. it's like everything else, we can do all of these things if we put our mind to it. we can invest in the short run. juice up the economy as joy says, and at the same time we can put things in place, that will have some level of pain for all sides, p ut things in place to reduce the debt to a manageable percentage of gdp. if we don't do that, we're in trouble. josh i've dealt with enough ceos in my role as co-chair of campaign to fix the debt. if we were to do a debt deal that would bring the debt over under control, i think you would see a lot of investment that's not happening right now. >> one thing about the simpson-bowles and then i'll throw it to you. other thing that simpson-bowles said it should not disproportionately affect the poor. the paul ryan budget -- what's

happened now, i blame to some degree democrats for this the goal posts on the right are the paul ryan budget. the senate democrats' plan isn't even taken that seriously by the white house because it's too extreme. it's too left. if we're really looking at this in sort of a fair playing field, we should be looking at the house progressive caucuses' budget and the paul ryan budget. if you want to start where, in a sort of like -- >> and now the criteria. >> either side's budget. you should be looking at what's going to get the job done for america. that's the problem. we're all looking for victories, we're going to protect our side, they're going to protect their side. the only way people are going to recover in this country is if we create a climate that's going to lead to growth. your point. and the only way to do that is by controlling our debt. >> i don't see the time between these two things. deficits have nothing to do, because the federal government reduced its deficit. that doesn't mean wal matt is going to go out and hire a bunch of people. they're not connected and we're having this conversation over and over. >> that's the problem with our

side. >> i want to get josh in here. >> the usual circumstance in which government borrowing is crowding out private investment and holding back growth is that interest rates rise because governments trying to borrow money at the same time that companies are trying to raise capital, it makes capital more expensive and it makes difficult for people to invest. we're not seeing it right now. interest rates are extremely low, not just in the short-term, but also in the long run. we have extremely low, 30-year interest rates what that reflects is there's not a lot of demand for capital in the private sector. the government could be boosting the economy by borrowing and spending the money itself. and in the future, if, if we see interest rates starting to rides, that will be in part an indication of expectations of improved long-run gdp growth that will be the time that we should shrink government budget deficits and get government out of the way. >> if the sequestration stays in place by 2023, our debt will not

be reduced, as percentage of gdp, it will be increased. so we have done nothing yet to deal with a very serious long-term problem. guys, if you don't see it, it's what's wrong with progressives. >> everybody has got some good points. we need growth right now. we're going to need some debt reduction a little more medium to long-term. alex, i think you made a really important point, is that, because -- >> you sound surprised. >> the goal posts have moved way over here and i think that that's really interesting. and that's a bigger picture issue. because neoconservative economic ideas are so much the heart of the conversation. and that's why the republicans lost. for starters, i'm convinced they had -- we can talk about a lot of reasons for that. but the global economy is such that supplyside economics don't work any more. that penny hasn't completely dropped yet. but it's very much to do with what you're saying, we need to

move the conversation back to the middle. we need growth and you can't get there just by kcutting. >> the last thing i will say, i do think governor, that the democrats are ready to play ball on this in a way that the republicans have dug in their heels. if you compare just patty murray's budget to paul ryan, they are very different documents. ron fournier writes in the "national journal" last week. house speaker boehner says the house after increasing taxes by $600 billion last year will not raise taxes, don't believe him. house republicans tell me they're open to exchanging entitlement reform for new taxes. will there be mutiny if that happens? >> that's what usually happens is a john boehner stakes out a hard-core right wing position and he folds in the end because they have to get something passed. right now the republicans' twin obsessions are competing. they have to obsession with got to balance the budget. they're obsessed with it and they're obsessed with going after medicare. they are obsessed with what

they're calling entitlement reform. what it means is people back the social safety net. it's paul ryan's singular obsession, privatize it, shrink it or make elderly poor people pay for their own health care. it depends which one do they want more. i think that republicans would accept some closing of loopholes if they could get at the white whale of medicare and get grandma to pay a little more. >> i wonder if his singular obsession, i always thought his singular obsession was p-90 x. >> november 7th, 1991, saw a confession that changed the political and cultural landscape and altered the course of a national health crisis, the impact of magic johnson's hiv announcement 22 years later when he joins us live just ahead. [ female announcer ] made just a little sweeter...

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basketball legend, entrepreneur, innovator and the face of a global health battle. ervin magic johnson has accomplished quite a bit since his show time with the lakers, we'll ask him about it when he joins us live from los angeles, coming up next.

riding high, you're on top of the world. your career is going just the way i wanted it to go. and just for that moment -- my life just changed. >> the news is so shocking and so unexpected, it is difficult to absorb it even as we report it. >> i just hung up the phone and i just leaned back and i just said -- what did i just hear? >> my feeling was, he ain't going to live long.

dead man walking. >> that was a clip from the espn documentary "the announcement" when magic johnson told the world that he was hiv positive. 20 years later, feelings about the disease have changed, as americans with hiv and aids live longer, more normal lives. make no mistake, the disease remain as health crisis and especially for minorities. while african-americans are just 13% of the u.s. population, the cdc finds they account for 44% of all new hiv infections, an estimated one in 16 black men will hiv seven times the rate of white men. one of the biggest problems is one in five people with hiv in america don't know they have it and don't know they're transmitting it to others. between 54 and 70% of new infections result from people who don't know they have the disease. magic johnson is trying to change that. today he's launching a campaign to encourage home hiv testing, it's called make knowing your thing today.

johnson's effort targets two of the major problems that disproportionately affect poorer communities, lack of access to health care and regular visits to doctors, as well as the stigma to get tested. the test kit is a simple swab which produces results in 20 minutes and costs $40. joining us from los angeles is basketball legend and ceo of magic johnson enterprises, magic johnson. i can't tell you the jealousy in this room that i get to talk to you, thank you so much for joining our program. >> thank you for having me, alex, it's a pleasure to be on. >> the pleasure is all mine. so magic, let's talk about make knowing. the idea of that, how do you make that a priority of these days, when the discussion around hiv and aids is pretty silent. >> you're right. but we have to change that, because of all the numbers that you just told everybody, if i'm latino or african-american, you

know, i should go and get tested. because it's running rampant through both communities. and then when you think about, it's all about the stigma and really having the right information. and that's why this oral quick, this home hiv test is so important. because now i think instead of going to your doctor, but you can still do that if you want to. you can now take that test at home. in the privacy of your home. and also if you do that, i think you should also have friends or relatives, try to do it with you. because you have a support system sitting right there. now, early detection saved my life 22 years ago. and i think that that's what people should look at. if you, if you take this test and you find out you do have hiv, you have a chance to live for a long time. because when i announced 22 years ago, there was only one drug. now there's over 30 drugs. so the drugs have definitely gotten better. but you just have to go and get

tested for hiv. >> and magic, in that way, you've been incredible in terms of raising awareness. but also the fact that you know 22 years later, here you are, the fact that you have had a normal life, i mean to the degree that the public has seen, and certainly there's i'm sure been struggles behind doors that we have not been privy too. but the notion that you've been around, you're here to deliver this message today is both a great thing, but i think also perhaps numbs people into a false sense of security about this disease. and also the implications and going to get tested. which is why something like this -- ora-quick is the name of the game here. is so important. the idea that not only do you need to know, you got to get tested and you have to do something about it after the fact. to what degree is that something that you've, you've seen? is a lack of awareness that you feel like you need to build back up in the days since you announced that you had hiv? >> yes because once i announced, everybody ran out and got tested

22 years ago and was at the forefront and everybody was talking about it, both at home, at school, at restaurants and so on. but now i think that because i'm doing well, people think that well, if i get hiv, i can be like magic. a lot of people in 22 years have died. somebody's going to die today of hiv and aids, so we have to remember just because i'm doing well, doesn't mean that you're going to do well. because the virus acts different in all of us. but you give yourself a real chance to live a long time if you get early detection. that's what we're talking about here. a lot of times what happens, especially in the minority community, we feel the symptoms, but we don't go to the doctor. we wait until it's too late to go to the doctor. now the drugs can't help you. so i've been the blessing and the curse when you think about hiv and aids, because i am doing well. so people just feel, hey, if i get it, i'm going to be like magic and that's not the case.

so please, please educate yourself, educate your family, go out and get tested. and that's what the name of the game is. go out and get tested. >> joy, the stats on minority communities and how just wildly disproportie porgportionately t affected by this. getting tested is is a huge part of the puzzle. but also so is getting treatment. we've been talking about obama care and what it does, it extends preventive services, free ones to 71 million americans and yet this weekend, there's a concerted effort to unwind obama care. not through broad strokes, but the republican strategy at this point seems to be death by 1,000 cuts, unwinding funding, doing things to make it more difficult to extend the insurance exchange. when in reality. this is still an epidemic in the black community, still an epidemic, globally as well. no one is speaking out for the good things that obama care is

doing and the very important services it's extending to minority communities and nonminority communities. >> to say nothing of governors who are rejecting the medicaid expansion. which is the only way people got health care a at all. have you have all of this confluence of health problems, the stigma around aids and thinking it is only a disease that people who are gay get and people not wanting to admit their own sexual activities and their own sexual proclivities because they're worried about being isolated within the community and you have sort of what magic johnson was talking about, the magic effect, where people think maybe it's not really that bad. maybe if magic johnson is still okay, it's not that deadly and i don't have to worry about it. and you combine that with the fact that health care is less available, that african-americans, latinos are the most uninsured populations in country, they don't have access to a primary care doctor. that sometimes maybe testing at home would be the only way somebody would ever find out they have it. but first people have to want to know. >> i love this point, too, about

preventive care and how important it is. we were talking about deficits earlier. one of the best ways to bend the health care cost cure is preventive care. european nations are on to this. it's a huge part of their health care system and i think it's a big deal and we should think a lot more about it here. >> the hypocrisy of the ryan budget on this issue is unbelievable. they want do get rid of obama care, but they want to keep all of the taxes and use them for other things. absolutely flat-out hypocrisy, which should make that budget a sham from the get-go. if you're going to get rid of it you get rid of the taxes as well. >> a state like florida, where the governor who has formally made his name being against obama care. saying he would take the medicaid expansion. miami has the highest rate of hiv infection in the country and it is located directly in the african-american community. that is where it is growing and particularly among black women who are being infected at astronomical rates, because their partners don't know. if you don't take that medicaid

money, those partners will never have a primary care physician and they'll never get treated, period. >> speaking of florida, ha is going on in florida on the college level and the nba. because it seems like that's where all the action is, we'll talk about magic about the michigan state spartans and the florida, florida, florida, florida question. the sunshine state and more brackets and what fgcu stands for. ♪ looking for a litter with natural ingredients that helps neutralize odors. discover tidy cats pure nature. uniquely formulated with cedar, pine, and corn. okay why? more is better than less because if stuff is not le--

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last night, a relatively unknown small school from florida made ncaa history, becoming the first 15th-seed to make it to the sweet 16. the florida gulf coast eagles knocked off san diego state

yesterday after beating second-seed georgetown, my hoyas in the first round last week. the eagle, who didn't even play division i basketball until six years ago have become the cinderellas of this tournament and the ultimate bracket buster, we have the ultimate expert, magic johnson still with us. magic, i'm not an expert on these things. but it seems like you have three florida teams still in the tournament. florida gulf coast, university of florida, university of miami and the heat are on a 26-game winning streak. what is that all about? >> well, you know, florida is normally known for football or maybe even baseball. but now it's a state where basketball is dominating and it starts with really the heat. because the winning streak is just amazing when you think about 26 games in a row or what, 28? >> 26. 26 going on 27. >> so it's simply amazing in today's nba. that they can do that. but lebron james and dwyane wade

have just been on top of their game. and then when you think about florida gold coast. this is a cinderella story. i don't think georgetown gave them respect, and because of that -- >> speaking ill of my hoyas, go ahead, go ahead. you're magic johnson, you're allowed to. >> i think if they had probably respected them like or played them like they were playing sar cues or louisville, somebody in the big east, they probably would have won. but because of the lack of respect, florida gold coast took it right to them and they played another solid game yesterday. so this team is a cinderella story. that's what march madness is all about. you're going to have teams thaw don't think will win, will win and then this year, i think besides any other year, everybody's about even. anybody can win the national championship this year, there's no clear-cut favorite to win. >> well magic, i got to ask you a question, though.

this is for everybody in the control room. in 1979, a young player named magic johnson from michigan state, beat a young player from indiana state named larry bird. do you think there's a magic and a bird in this year's ncaa tournament? anybody you're looking at? >> i think that playerwise, you know, it's hard to say if there's a magic or a bird. but i think teamwise, yes. in imy state or indiana state, there's a magical teams out there. i mean when you look at indiana, the big ten is doing great. michigan, michigan state, ohio state, i think louisville has a great chance of winning it. florida played great basketball. kansas can play as well. i mean so -- there's, there's definitely magical teams out there. i don't know who's going to win it i'm cheering for my spartan, of course. >> of course you are. and it would not be a complete show if we did not give a shout-out to your spartans.

>> magic, i went to japan and i was in the stands in 1979 talking about cinderella story. they played michigan state in the game, everyone said the great cinderella team. we lost 103-69. you crushed us. >> cinderella comes in different forms. >> you crushed us. >> magic johnson thank you so much. thank you for everything you're doing and thank you for spending some time with us today. >> i appreciate it, you got a great panel there and they really, obama care is working, i talked to a lot of ceos of hospitals, it is working. and i'm glad that governor scott down in florida accepted obama care. because it will work. >> a lot of good things going on down there in florida, thank you, magic johnson and thanks for our panel, governor rendell, joy, josh and rona. that's all for now, i'll see you back here next week, joy reed is sitting in for me for the rest of the week. "andrea mitchell reports" is coming up next.